Tiger Moon
by Virus
Summary: A vigilante chasing a cat themed thief across rooftops was nothing new for Gotham. Except this isn't Batman and Catwoman and Red Hood would rather not fall into his mentors habits. Too bad for him.


Tiger Moon

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

"Stop me if you've heard this one" Jason thought, going through his own personal monologue "A mysterious and badass vigilante hovers over a cityscape, looking for a thief. Said thief turns out to be a hot chick in a cat costume". Jason Todd, known to the criminal underworld as the Red Hood, had been looking into a bunch of break-ins going around Gotham in the past week. The rest of the Bat-Clan had been "busy", so they asked him to see what he could do it. Which in Batman talk was "Give something simple for Jason to do so he stays out of trouble". Still, job was a job.

He found out the thief was a low level villain called Tigress. She generally was a hired hand for bigger fish, ran with another low tier called Icicle and dressed like someone who should be out hunting a hero with spider powers. Well from what Jason could see, she at least upped her wardrobe, looking more apt for the Gotham scene.

Last she was seen, she was pulling a scam on Green Arrow, pretending to want to be his new partner before trying to sell him out for a bounty. Not like getting on over Oliver Queen was hard. Dumbass couldn't even keep Black Canary, a woman you should worship the ground she walks on if she wanted to. Heck, if thought he had a snowman's chance in hell, Jason would have made a play for her he thought.

After that, Tigress seemed to go low level crime, far simpler than what she had been doing. What even the reason why, it didn't matter. She was doing this in Gotham and it was his job to take care of it.

Jason waited until Tigress was done ransacking the penthouse she was in and went outside. She stopped to admire her ill gotten gain, which Jason noting was rookie mistake, especially in Gotham. This was his moment to make his move, leaping behind her "Excuse me miss, but I don't believe that is yours. And besides, we already have a cat theme criminal in Gotham and aren't looking for another". After getting over the initial surprise, Tigress made a run for it, which Jason running after her.

Rooftop to rooftop they leaped, with Jason noting how familiar this all was "So, I'm in Gotham, leaping over rooftops and chasing a thief in a cat suit. Dear God, I hope I'm not becoming Bruce".

After a few buildings, he seemed to have lost her. He looked around to see any indication to were she may have gone, only to get a crossbow arrow nearing missing his head. Tigress emerged from the shadows, pointing her crossbow at him. Now that Jason got a better look at her, he was quite amazed. Even with the costume, he could tell she was stunning. He body alone was quite a sight. In fact, it reminded him of Babs. He costume and current demeanor reminded him of Huntress though. Didn't know pallet swaps were a thing in real life.

Jason's thoughts were interrupted when Tigress spoke "So your the Red Hood? I had thought you would be harder to get the jump on". "Well toots, you caught me on an off night". At that statement, Tigress' demeanor turned to anger. Jason noticed and realized he had an opening "So don't like that,eh? How about babe? Or sweetheart? Or even sexy"?

Tigress was now pissed. Not being taken seriously was one thing, but she wouldn't be demeaned like that. Especially from someone who, in her mind, was some macho alpha man wannabe. She went on the attack. Jason was easily able to block her blows, his strategy working. Jason didn't even need to go on the offensive much as Tigress would be overexerting herself at this rate.

Suddenly, Jason felt the impact of a foot in his gut. She actually got a hit in. Jason looked at his opponent. The anger seems to be missing, replaced with a look of satisfaction. Did she see through his strategy or was she playing him the whole time? Didn't matter, Jason knew that he had to fight for real now.

As the two traded blows, Jason was able to take a better look at how Tigress fought. Every more calculated, every muscle used properly, little energy wasted. She almost could have been trained by Bruce. She wasn't a regular street fighter, that' for sure.

As the fight continued, Jason felt a sense of excitement. He always had a rush from a fight, he enjoyed combat. The rest of the bats were somewhat disturbed by this; like they were any better. But this was different. He was enjoying the back and forth between himself and Tigress, to the point of wanting to keep it going when in the past he would get off crushing him opponent.

Sadly, this fight couldn't go on forever. It was time to end it. Jason was able to use an opening to get behind Tigress and grab her "Time to end this, kitty cat". Rather that fight back to be worried, Tigress smiled. Why would she be...oh crap. Jason felt the shock of several volts coursing through him. Girl had a personal body taser. She used his own trick on him!

Jason was on the ground, aware but immobile. He tried to move, but it was no use. He looked up to she a crossbow pointed at his face. While there was no record of Tigress killing anyone, that meant nothing. Heck, Bruce had used the fact that no one knew if he killed or not to his advantage one a few occasions. At there very least Jason could say he didn't go down like a chump.

Tigress lowered her crossbow and leaned down towards Jason "Don't worry, I'm not killer. At least, I don't kill someone who is down for the count. Besides, I'd have Batman and half a dozen other masks in this town on my ass if I did " She wasn't dumb, at least Jason was worried about dying at least. Tigress continued to talk "You know, you impressed me. I thought you were just a load mouth the was more fists and guns than actual talent. But you are pretty good".

Tigress proceed to take off Jason's helmet. He couldn't tell her that it was rigged, but that didn't seem to matter: She disabled it. How did she manage that, he wondered. Tigress took the time to study Jason's face before speaking "Well, I will say that even with that domino mask, you ain't bad. I was half expected she jock looking punk. But not bad at all".

Tigress leaned even farther down until she was face to face to Jason "I could take that make off, but I'd rather keep the mystery for now". She then gave a gentle kiss of Jason's lips before rising "Maybe I'll stick around Gotham for a while. You ever want to repeat tonight, I'm open. It would be nice to get a real workout for once." With that, she was gone.

It was a few minutes before Jason could get up. He knew looking for Tigress was pointless now. She'd be long gone at this point. He looked around to see if she could have possibly left anything he could use to track her later, to no avail. He took a hard breath, tasking the strawberry lip gloss that Tigress was apparently wearing and could only say one thing out loud:

"Damn. I have become like Bruce, haven't I"?


End file.
